Blast in Varanasi temple raises spectre of terror

Two bomb blasts in quick succession rocked the Sankatmochan Temple and the Cantonment railway station here this evening, killing at least 20 people and injuring over 50, some of them seriously.

The first blast took place inside the famous Sankatmochan Temple adjacent to the Kashi Vishwanath temple when it was teeming with devotees at the time of evening "aarti", killing four persons on the spot.

Minutes later at 6:25 pm, another blast took place at the holding area of platform number one of the Varanasi Cantonment railway station when the Delhi-bound Shivaganga Express was stationed there. The injured have been rushed to various hospitals, sources said.

However, a Reuters report said there were three explosions. One explosion occurred in the temple and two blasts at the railway station.

"I do not rule out a terrorist hand behind it," Navneet Sikera, Varanasi's police chief, said. A bomb was also recovered from a residential area and was being defused, the police said.

The blast at the temple caused panic and a near-stampede situation as devotees scrambled to rush out to safety and workers carried away injured persons, including several elderly women, to hospital. Rescue workers struggled in narrow lanes and bylanes to bring out the injured from the site.

Condemning the explosions, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi have appealed to the people to maintain calm.

"The prime minister has appealed for maintaining peace and calm. He is constantly monitoring the situation. He has condemned the blasts," his media adviser Sanjaya Baru said.

Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, said the incidents were "mindless acts of terrorism" and expressed her deep concern and anguish at the loss of life in the twin blasts.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the Centre had alerted all the states to be vigilant in the wake of the blasts to ensure that no untoward incident followed the explosions.

He told reporters after a meeting with officials that he had spoken to Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on the situation in the state and the Union home secretary was in continuous touch with the state chief secretary. The Uttar Pradesh government had been asked to take steps to see that the situation did not not go out of control.

UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav has announced ex-gratia relief for the victims and appealed to the people to maintain peace and order. In a statement issued here, Yadav condemned the incidents and appealed to the people to exercise restraint, saying the culprits would not be spared.

"Stern action will be initiated against all those found involved in the incident," he said.

Yadav announced an ex gratia of Rs five lakh for those killed in the blasts, Rs one lakh to those seriously injured and Rs. 50,000 to people with minor injuries.

The main opposition BJP said that "soft" policies of the UPA government towards terrorism and the "minority appeasement politics" of the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh were responsible for the blasts.